Glossary

Absconding occurs when all adult honey bees permanently leave their nest. This usually occurs because the colony is stressed: possible causes are poor ventilation, too much heat, moisture, predators such as mites, moths, ants, or beetles, lack of food, or other intolerable problems. Absconding is different from migrating or swarming.

Causes ‘acarine disease’ - the problems bees experience when they are infested with these tracheal mites

The lesser wax moth: commonly regarded as a pest of honey bee colonies, however it is nature’s way of cleaning up and making a nesting place fit for rehabilitation.

Small hive beetle, found naturally occurring in Apis mellifera honey bee colonies in southern Africa, is now being taken and spreading outside its natural distribution range where it is a more troublesome pest for Apis mellifera colonies that have not evolved in its presence.

Honey bees descended from those African Apis mellifera honey bees introduced to Brazil from Africa in 1956

A severe bodily reaction to bee venom following a sting.

A disease of honey bee brood caused by the bacterium Paenibacillus larvae larvae.

The part of a flower's stamen that produces pollen.

The location of a number of bee hives.

Bee-focussed beekeeping – see also natural beekeeping.

The science and art of bees and beekeeping.

The genus to which honey bees belong.

An Asian honey bee, it builds a single combs and is similar in appearance to Apis florea

An Asian honey bee species, it builds a single comb and is similar in appearance to Apis dorsata.

An Asian honey bee species, it builds a single comb and is similar in appearance to Apis dorsata.

This is one of the honey bee species native to Asia. It is smaller than, but resembles Apis mellifera in biology and behaviour, building a series of parallel combs inside a cavity, and can therefore be kept inside hives.

The giant or rock honey bee, indigenous to Asia. Builds a single comb, and cannot be kept inside a hive.

An Asian species of honey bee, sometimes called the little honey bee. It has a small colony size and builds a small, single comb. Cannot be kept inside a hive.

An Asian species of honey bee that build a series of parallel combs and can be kept inside hives

An Asian species of honey bee nesting on a single comb, it occurs at high altitudes in the Himalayas.

The honey bee species indigenous to Africa, Europe and the Middle East. This remarkable species that many subspecies and occurs naturally from north of the arctic circle to the tip of South Africa. It has now been introduced to most nations worldwide.

An Asian species of honey bee that build a series of parallel combs and can be kept inside hives

An Asian species of honey bee that build a series of parallel combs and can be kept inside hives

A hive that is technologically appropriate to the natural and financial resources, human skills and bee species that are locally available.

An empty hive placed so that it will be occupied by a colony of honey bees. Bait hives are often baited with aromas of beeswax or herbs to attract honey bees. Sometimes known as a catcher box.

A technique for producing designs on cloth by covering with wax. During successive dipping, different parts of the cloth are protected from the dye by beeswax.

An insect belonging to the super-family Apoidea. Over 25,000 species of bees have been described – perhaps half of those that exist.

Pollen collected by bees, which is mixed with some honey and bee enzymes and yeasts, and stored in cells for later use as a high protein food for larvae.

The space required for honey bees to work and live between two parallel combs within their nest. The bee space is between 6 and 9mm. If the gap is narrower than this, bees will fill it with propolis, and if it is wider, they will build comb to fill the gap.

Netting usually combined with a hat to protect a beekeepers’ face and head from stings

The container provided by the beekeeper for a colony of honey bees to live inside. Only hive-nesting species of honey bee can be kept inside hives.

Looking after, and having ownership of honey bees inside bee hives. The purpose may be for crop pollination, to harvest honey, beeswax or other products.

Wax produced by honey bees. It is secreted as a liquid by glands on the underside of worker bees’ abdomens, hardens into tiny platelets of white wax, and is then manipulated by worker bees to build comb.

A combination of biological and diversity and meaning all the types of life on earth. All the plants, animals, fungi and micro-organisms, and all the communities they form and the habitats where they live. The opposite of biodiversity is monoculture.

The bottom board of a hive

One of the many types of hives used as houses for bees

These are the pieces of comb that bees build to connect hive parts together. It can be removed by the beekeeper and the beeswax harvested – it is usually fresh, good quality beeswax.

Abbreviated name for a species of wingless fly, for example Braula coeca, often known as bee louse. Harmless to honey bees.

All stages of immature honey bees: eggs, larvae and pupae.

The part of a hive where the queen is laying eggs and brood is being raised.

The area of the honey bees’ nest in which brood are reared.

Any extension pieces of comb built by the bees on to the edges of frames. As with brace comb, these can be removed, and the beeswax harvested.

People’s strengths that can be converted into positive livelihood outcomes. Although the term ‘capital’ is used, not all assets are capital stocks in the strict economic sense of the term in which capital is the product of financial investments, which yield a flow of benefits over time. Literature on livelihoods sometimes uses a number of different terms inter-changeably, which can be confusing. These terms include asset, capital, endowment and resource.

Cells that have been capped with a wax cover, while the larvae inside spin cocoons and turn into pupae

A molecule containing carbon, hydrogen and oxygen that is an important source of food energy. Examples are sugars and starches.

A molecule containing carbon, hydrogen and oxygen that is an important source of food energy. Examples are sugars and starches.

The pattern of income and expenditure and the impact this has on how much money is available at a given time.

See bait hive

A single hexagonal wax compartment, the basic unit of comb. Each honey bee develops within a single cell, and honey and pollen are stored within cells.

A disease of honey bee colonies caused by a fungus Ascosphaera apis.

A mass of bees, such as a swarm, or when bees cluster together to maintain heat during cold weather.

Protective silk threads spun by a larva to encase and protect the developing pupa during metamorphosis.

One place where many small volumes of honey and/or beeswax can be collected in one place. Many beekeepers bring their buckets of honey and/or beeswax to one collection centre and this enables larger volumes of honey and/or beeswax to be sold to a buyer or packer.

A colony of honey bees occupies a bee hive (or any cavity) and builds their nest. Colonisation has been achieved when there are honey bees living in the bee hive.

A superorganism of honey bees, consisting of workers, drones and one queen. One honey bee cannot live on his or her own – he or she can survive only as part of a honey bee colony, which consists of thousands of (female) worker bees, hundreds of drone (male) bees and usually one queen (female) bee. Beekeepers tend to talk about how many colonies they have, or how many stocks they have: never how many bees they have!

The precise wax structure made of hexagonal cells in which honey bees rear young and store honey and pollen.

Honey in the comb, as bees made it.

The process of gathering many small volumes of honey and/or beeswax together. The outcome of consolidation is a large volume of honey and/or beeswax assembled in one place, and convenient for buyers.

The process by which something becomes unfit for human consumption through the presence of residues of agrochemicals, medicines, organisms, dirt or waste.

Data collection methods are contextual when they attempt to understand social issues or poverty within the social, cultural, economic and political environment of a locality.

The pollen basket on each hind leg of the worker honey bee.

A method of evaluation that compares the potential benefits with the expected costs.

The amount harvested from a crop plant species over a specified period of time, usually one season.

The transfer of pollen between flowers of different plants of the same species. Plants that are not self-fertile must be cross-pollinated before they can develop seeds. Many crops depend upon cross-pollination by insects.

The process in which sugars in honey come out of solution and form crystals. The speed of crystallisation is determined by the type of sugars present in the nectar from which bees created the honey. The process is speeded up at lower temperatures. Also known as granulation

Pieces of honey comb containing honey and presented for sale in this way, i.e. the honey has not been extracted from the comb.

A design of American, single wall, movable frame hive.

One of the ways that bees communicate – in this case to inform others about sources of forage

The attainment of sustainable improvements in economic growth and the quality of life that increase the range of choices open to all, achieved by people’s own efforts in the private sector or through voluntary activity, supported by government.

For beekeeping: the number of species (plant and animal) in any given area. For development: difference at the local level (e.g. in people’s livelihood activities, beekeeping practices, etc.)

The different activities performed by honey bees at different stages of their lifecycle.

Demand for a product within the country of origin.

A sheet of beeswax foundation upon which the bees have already built up the walls of the cells

Honey bees entering nearby hives instead of their original home – it occurs more if many colonies are placed close together and with few distinguishing features

A male honey bee. As far as humans can tell, drones undertake no work within the hive, and their apparent sole function is to fertilise the queen.

The first stage of a bee, before metamorphosis into a larva

Protein molecules produced by living cells that are biochemical catalysts.

A disease of honey bee brood caused by the bacterium Melissococcus pluton.

A product that can be transported and sold to other countries.

Providing research findings and instruction to working people.

A system of beekeeping that involves owning many honey bee colonies with minimal intervention. The main work of the beekeeper is making and placing hives and harvesting honey and beeswax. The yield per individual hive per year may be low, although the total annual yield from many hives may be high, with a relatively low input costs.

The process of spinning uncapped honey combs in frames within a centrifugal extractor to separate honey from comb.

Fairtrade is trade that ensures that producers and workers are paid fair prices for their produce, have decent working conditions, and have a sustainable standard of living within the local context. To show consumers that the goods they are buying have been traded fairly, producers need certification from a Fairtrade Labelling Organisation.

A device for giving food in the form of sugar syrup to honey bees.

A colony of a species that was previously living inside a hive and managed by a beekeeper, but is now living in the wild, and is of a different species or race to local, indigenous honey bee populations (if any).

A chemical change brought about by yeasts. Acids or alcohols may be created during the fermentation process.

Using a filter, mesh or sieve to separate substances. Substances which are too large to pass through the mesh will be retained (e.g. wax), while liquid (e.g. honey) will pass through.

The best honey, suitable for eating as it is, for export or for local sale. Sometimes named table honey.

A hive in which bees build their nests with the combs attached to the wall of the hive, and therefore fixed (the combs cannot be removed from the hive without breaking them from their attachment).